Bacholer Of Optometry (B.Optom)

Optometrists are the primary healthcare practitioners of the eye and visual system who provide comprehensive eye and vision care, which includes refraction and dispensing, detection/diagnosis and management of disease in the eye, and the rehabilitation of conditions of the visual system.

Need of the hour : Blindness and vision impairment continue to be significant public health issues in India. Currently, there are an estimated 4.95 million blind persons and 70 million vision impaired persons in India, out of which 0.24 million are blind children.⁽¹⁾ Prevention is better than cure .According to WHO 80% cases of blindness are either curable or preventable.

At present ophthalmologists bear much of the burden of providing comprehensive eye care in India. The integration of highly educated four year trained optometrists into primary health services is a means of correcting refractive error(one of the major causes of treatable blindness ) and detecting ocular disease in the periphery ,at the earliest , sharing the eye care responsibility between ophthalmologists and optometrists.⁽²⁾

How to become an optometrist ?

A Student can do +2 with Science(Biology recommended). Then complete Bachelors in Optometry (B.Optom/B.Sc. Optometry).

What are the future prospects for an optometrist ?

Further one can pursuit Masters in Optometry (M.Optom) and Doctorate in Optometry (OD).

B Optom at MAMC Agroha

The B.Optometry course at Department of Ophthalmology ,MAMC,Agroha started in 2018 with 10 seats per year. It is a 4 year course (3 year + 1 year internship).

Faculty – Dr Parveen Rewri , Prof. & Head, Department of Ophthalmology

                  Dr Sagarika Aggarwal, Professor , Department of Ophthalmology

                 Dr Aparna Singhal, Associate Professor , Department of Ophthalmology

                 Dr Vibha Yadav, Assistant Professor, Department of Ophthalmology

                  Mr. Ravi Pal , Optometrist

                  Ms.Mamta ,Optometrist

                 Ms. Hema ,Optometrist

University Rankers in Dec 2022 University exam:               

Ms. Ritika, Batch 2019 – First Rank

Ms. Sakshi , Batch 2020 – First Rank

The students and faculty have worked shoulder to shoulder during the COVID-19 pandemic and Mucormycosis epidemic in Haryana.

The Optometry Department is actively participating in screening camps for eye diseases and awareness drives for Glaucoma ,Eye donation etc. by way of “Nukkad Natak” that have been conducted under the Community Ophthalmology wing under the supervision of the HOD , Department of Ophthalmology.

References :

• Mannava S, Borah RR, Shamanna BR. Current estimates of the economic burden of blindness and visual impairment in India: A cost of illness study. Indian J Ophthalmol. 2022 Jun;70(6):2141-2145. doi: 10.4103/ijo.IJO_2804_21. PMID: 35648000; PMCID: PMC9359234.
• De Souza N, Cui Y, Looi S, Paudel P, Shinde L, Kumar K, Berwal R, Wadhwa R, Daniel V, Flanagan J, Holden B. The role of optometrists in India: an integral part of an eye health team. Indian J Ophthalmol. 2012 Sep-Oct;60(5):401-5. doi: 10.4103/0301-4738.100534. PMID: 22944749; PMCID: PMC3491265.